State Aid Section

This Department has the following State Aid Schemes in place. They are administered by the Department’s industrial development agencies, with the exception of the Skillnets scheme, which is administered by Skillnets Ltd.

Regional Aid 2007-2013

Regional Aid, also known as investment aid, is paid in the form of grants by the industrial development agencies to support new investment and new employment in productive projects.

Following a mid term review of Ireland’s 2007-2013 Regional Aid Map, the European Commission approved Ireland’s application to reinstate Regional Aid for large investment projects in the Mid-West Region (Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary). The Mid-West had lost this facility at the end of 2008. The letter from the Commission confirming this is shown directly below, along with an accompanying quick glance table, and the original letter regarding the designation of areas from 2006.

Please note that all of the Country, including those areas not entitled to Regional Aid, can qualify for other forms of aid e.g. Research, Development & Innovation Aid, SME Investment Aid, Training Aid, Aid for Environmental protection etc.

Research, Development and Innovation

Block Exemption Schemes

Temporary Community Framework for State Aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis.

The Department has implemented one scheme, under point 4.2 of the Framework. The scheme is titled “Limited amounts of compatible aid” (EU Ref: N 186/2009, amended by N 473/2009). The scheme and an amendment to the original scheme are shown below. Within the terms of the above amended scheme, the Department’s Enterprise Development Agencies have launched an Enterprise Stabilisation Fund and an Employment Subsidy scheme, details of which are available from Enterprise Ireland